Rebellion: My story of the Wild Ones.

Chapter Eight

We left the shop and loaded up. I had gotten a black tank top, some shorts from my trunk along with my black toms and my sketchbook and pencils. We loaded up the trunks and cars, and hit the road. We filled up on the way out of town, and then began the tedious trip across nothing but flat land, low shrubs and dead grass.

It was Ash and I alone in the truck. “So, the hunt?” I asked warily.

Ash closed his eyes for a second. “Where to begin….” He trailed off. “You remember they feed on death row inmates, right?” I nodded. “Well, they don’t like, give these guys a warning or a shot of drugs or anything. They set them loose and tell them to run like hell. They do, and the monsters hunt them down like prey. They become so intent on the hunt and the scent of what they’re tracking that they’re oblivious to anything else. This is when they are the weakest. We usually hunt them then, hoping to save a trip into their lair to get them. We’ve only taken a few, since they are quick little bastards. But we’re learning how to make the hunter the hunted.”

I felt my eyes widening. “Wow….”

“Yeah. It’s quite the gruesome task. Those sons of bitches are hard to kill.” Ash noticed my sketchbook and asked what it was for.

“Drawing. Duh.” I replied.

“Drawing what?”

I proceeded to turn bright red. I looked down at the floor. “You, mostly.”

He laughed. “Can I see?”

“I guess.” I flipped through, trying to find a good one. I usually hated everything I drew, but I was told I had immense talent. I found an older one, one with him from a Youtube video he made. He had an acoustic guitar and was beaming the smile that made the room light up. I spent a lot of time on his sleeves, and they looked almost real. I showed it to him, and he gasped.

“Wow. It’s like looking in a mirror. Any others?” I continued to flip through, and found a more recent one. It was him and Jinxx rocking out on stage.

“Does Jinxx always look that derpy?” He asked giggling, looking at Jinxx’s mid hair flip and goofy face.

I had to laugh too. “I thought the mid hair flip capture was cool.”

“Can you draw me right now? Like, driving and what not?”

“Yeah, if you want.” I had him look at me and smile. The mental image saved and I began to draw. A pencil stroke here, an erased mark there. It took longer than I thought, and I had to keep looking him to get his face just right. The dash, steering wheel, and window slowly came into focus behind him as I kept going. He would occasionally look over and peer into what my mind saw. When I was satisfied with the lines, I shaded, bringing the drawing to life. Suddenly, I was looking at a near identical copy of Ashley.

“I finished,” I said, breaking the silence with my voice. “I hope you like it.”

Ash looked at it, amazed. “It looks... Amazing. Like a photograph.”

I signed and dated the piece, and wrote Ashley’s name on the back. “You know, in case I become famous.” I said laughing.

Ash grinned. We continued going and going, until we got to a small town in the middle of nowhere, about an hour and a half outside of where we were headed.  There was a small gas station with a family owned restaurant inside. We all used the bathroom and bought a load of food to take back to the camp, along with several cases of water.

We all got a homemade sandwich and a drink at the little restaurant inside and sat to eat.

Andy briefed us on how we were to get in. He was going to lead with his fake badge and tell the guards we were with him. After that, Ashley and I were going to take the lead to watch for the monsters and look for a camp scout and give a signal of our arrival so the troops would be ready to go if something came up.

“Lets roll.” CC said as he shoved the last bit of his food into his mouth. All the water and Styrofoam coolers full of food went into the bed of Ashley’s truck and were covered by a tarp.

We blazed down the highway, hoping to make it by dark. Ashley and I held hands, both unsure of what was to come.

“Hey Ash?” I asked, breaking the unsteady silence.

“Yeah?” He replied, worry and angst in his brown eyes.

“If we don’t- If I don’t-“   I began.

“No. Stop. We’re all gonna make it in. You, Krista, Me, everyone. If you get into trouble I swear on my life you’ll be okay. We’ll all make this same trip out too.” He almost started to yell at the end. It was much louder than I had ever heard him speak. He could tell him raising his voice had scared me. “I’m sorry, it just… I don’t enjoy the thought of death of my friends, or my Love.” He apologized, squeezing my hand.

I smiled gently and squeezed his hand that was so much larger than mine. The rest of the ride only took twenty minutes, enough time for the sun to paint a brilliant picture of deep blues, light pinks, purples, and oranges across the Arizona sky. As we neared the military zone, Ashley began to brush back his hair with his fingers and tie it up in a ponytail. I did the same with mine and straightened up the best I could in the truck. We turned off the highway onto a small, dusty gravel road you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it. We went down the road throwing  up white streams of dust in our wake.

The moment of truth came. We began to see tall fences and barbed wire. As the gate appeared,  Ash let go of my hand and put both hands at ten and two. Andy’s small Audi pulled up and the window rolled down. Andy’s long arm covered in a black jacket to hide his tattoos showed a soldier a small ID card. He motioned to the coupe and the truck, and said some words to the guard. He waved Andy through and stopped Krista, asking her a couple of basic questions. He waved her through the gate and walked to the truck.

“Hello, sir.” He said in a monotone voice.  “I must ask you some questions before I may let you through.”

“Of course, sir.” Ashley replied.

After a few minutes of questioning that seemed more like hours to me, we were waved through.  Now, it was go time.

AUTHORS NOTE----

Hey guys, I'm so so sorry it has been soooo long since I've updated anything on here. I went through a pretty traumatic injury in mid July, had surgry to fix said injury mid August, and literally just got off crutches the day I'm posting this (September 26). Long and gruesome story short, I shattered my knee cap, had to have it put back together, and then bolted to my leg. (Fun times). So, I will be on the bench for my entire marching season, seeing as I'm still recovering, and that should free up some time for me to write. While I cannot promise a schedule of chapter releases, I can say I will be posting them. Again, I'm so so sorry it's been forever, but I am back! 

Also: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 98 READS AT THE TIME OF ME POSTING THIS. I seriously appriciate every one of you who reads my work and comments or sends me messages. It really brightens my day. Heres a hug for every single one of y'all! (>^.^)>